Nawaz's close relatives on no-fly list ordered

Court also directs blocking their CNICs for ‘defaulting bank dues’

LAHORE:

A court in Lahore on Friday ordered that the names of former premier Nawaz Sharif's close relatives be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) and their national identity cards (CNICs) blocked for defaulting bank dues.

The banking court was hearing a petition filed against Kashmir Sugar Mills wherein the counsel for the bank argued that the owners obtained a loan in 2013.

The owners -- Javed Shafi, Ibrahim Tariq, Zahid Shafi and Ali Pervez -- gave a personal guarantee for the loan.

Hasnain Tariq Shafi, Mian Pervez Shafi and Khaleda Pervez from Kashmir Sugar Mills also gave a guarantee, the counsel informed the court.

The lawyer told the court that the owners of sugar mill had mortgaged 217,400 sacks of 50kg sugar for the loan, but later stole it to avoid payment of the dues.

“Kashmir Sugar Mills was declared a defaulter on March 26 over non-payment of the loan. Criminal action should be taken against Mian Shahid Shafi and other cousins of Nawaz Sharif for being responsible for the mortgaged stock of the bank from Kashmir Sugar Mills going missing,” the lawyer added.

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The court ordered the entry of names of close relatives of the former premier to ECL and blocking their CNICs.

It also summoned the accused, including Mian Shahid Shafi, Javed Shafi, Ali Pervez and Ibrahim Tariq, for trial.

In April this year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched an investigation against 13 more sugar mills as part of its ongoing campaign against a sugar mafia and artificial hike in prices of the commodity through various illegal means including speculation.

They included Kashmir, Hunza, Ashraf, Husein, Seven Star, Sheikhoo, Etihad, Fatima, Mirpur, Al-Noor, Suraj, SGM and Sindbad sugar mills.

The FIA has sent its summary to Adviser to the PM on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will carry out further proceedings in the sugar case.

In June, the FIA completed its investigation report, according to which the owners of sugar mills were found to be involved in making profits through speculative pricing.

They made a windfall profit of around Rs100 billion through this practice and were also hoarding the sweetener.

The “cash boys” and speculative brokers of estranged PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza, the brother of Federal Minister Khusro Bakhtiar and other sugar mill owners also turned out to be the same.

However, the FIA decided that it would not arrest Tareen and his son Ali Tareen as well as Shehbaz and Hamza in connection with its investigation into the sugar scam.